Tassie ‘worst’ in nation for transparency
TASMANIA is the worst state in the nation for information transparency, Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says.
Ombudsman Richard Connock this week revealed his office was struggling under a backlog of 50 appeals against Government refusals to release information — with an average delay of 318 days.
The Tasmanian Ombudsman’s office has just one staff member to deal with a growing number of Right to Information Act appeals.
Ms O’Connor said the Tasmanian Liberal Government loved keeping the public in the dark.
“During their time in government, the Liberals have been allergic to truth and transparency, engineering a frustrating, often fruitless system so starved of resources that it can take years to get public information which should be readily available,” she said.
“The objectives of the Right to Information Act 2009 make clear the intention of Parliament was that discretions available in the Act should be used to provide the maximum amount of information. This is the direct opposite of what happens under the Hodgman Government.”
A Government spokesperson rejected Ms O’Connor’s comments.
“The Government has a very strong record of enhancing transparency through the routine disclosure of infor- mation across all Government departments,” he said.
“This includes the first regular disclosure of ministerial spending, and online disclosure of Parliamentarians’ register of interests.
“We have every confidence in the Ombudsman’s office to undertake their duties.
“While the office operates independently of Government, we will continue to consult with the Ombudsman’s office when it comes to Budget submissions and matters of resourcing.”
Ms O’Connor said the Greens would again move to strengthen the RTI Act this year, and she challenged Labor and the Liberals to support the move towards greater transparency.
GOVERNMENTS should not keep secrets from the people they are supposed to serve. The systems around routine disclosures and the way Right to Information laws are applied should therefore support a culture of openness as a default — and certainly not the opposite.
Unfortunately this is not currently the case in Tasmania, with the state a repeat worst performer nationally in terms of making RTI decisions within the timeframes technically required under law. And further, once made, the decisions themselves in Tasmania are then also the most likely to be appealed when compared with all other states. This is often due to the RTI officer failing to properly explain the decision to refuse to release documents. That fact led to a warning this week from Ombudsman Richard Connock that his office is struggling under the weight of his workload — seeing as all of those appeals come his way. All three of these issues demand a proper and considered response from the Government.
Instead, the Hodgman Government’s standard line is to point to its “very strong record” of improving the routine disclosure of some departmental data, ministerial spending and MPs’ register of interests. And some welcome changes have indeed been made in this space recently. But when quizzed on these issues, the Government is never prepared to confront head-on the most important matter: the fact that successive administrations in Tasmania have chipped away at the very honourable intention of what were nation-leading RTI laws when they were enacted here in 2010.
The biggest issue is the long response times to RTI requests, often determined by junior staff who err on
Tasmania is a repeat worst performer on RTI. That needs to change, and that change needs to be led from the top.
the side of pleasing their masters. The grounds for refusal are also broad, open to interpretation and frequently abused to hide what should be made public. And ministers have also developed an unfortunate habit of — wrongly — falling back on RTI refusals as an excuse for not releasing embarrassing documents.
It needs to change, and that change needs to be led from the top. While RTI officers are technically independent public servants, the truth is they — and their bosses — are heavily influenced by the vibe coming from the minister’s office, and the wider executive branch. At the top of that tree is the Premier.
A full nine months ago we used a similar column here that called for more openness to suggest Premier Will Hodgman make it clear to the public service that he is committed to open government. We suggested he stand up publicly and say so, and also to set a time frame for all ministerial staff and the public service to implement new policies in support of this goal. We said this should include a commitment to de-politicise the RTI process — and an edict that the statutory time frames would be met in all cases. We acknowledged that, being a good bloke, Mr Hodgman would find it uncomfortable that his Government is often tainted by accusations that it is secretive — and he would want to change that.
But in the nine months since, no such statement has come from the Premier. The Mercury is fully committed to your right to know and we will continue to campaign in support of that important right.